This invention relates to a detergent product formulations which can be packaged in water soluble film. The invention also relates to detergent formulations excluding phosphates.
A product of the invention is ideally for use in the laundering and conditioning of industrial and domestic man-made and/or natural fabrics in semi-automatic or automatic washing machines. It may also be used in dishwashers. For convenience purposes it is useful if this can be achieved by means of a soluble single compartment sachet containing varying amounts of bleaching detergents including for example sodium percarbonate. Typically a sachet may be made from a water soluble film such as PVA.
Conventional laundering detergents comprise perborates and zeolites and these compounds are not stable in water soluble film. Previous attempts have been made to manufacture fully built detergent and conditioner systems in a sachet have required a twin compartment sachet manufactured from a perforated film. These fully built detergent and conditioner systems generally contain bleaching agents. Sodium percarbonate is recognised in this field as a bleaching agent. However, use of percarbonate in sachets is not popular as it is unstable when combined with other components of a high moisture content.
Twin compartment sachets have a disadvantage in that they require greater mechanical action to dissolve the sachet and thus have long dispersion times. Also, they are expensive to manufacture.
Additionally, the perforated film used in these twin compartment sachets does not confer a significant shelf life to the components contained within the sachet, wherein the oxidising power of the bleaching agent is reduced.
Also, typically these formulations contain zeolites. These have high moisture content which affects the mechanical properties of the film e.g. the pliability.
Pollution problems arise from the use of phosphates in detergent compositions. Phosphates are required as solubilisers and aid detergency. However, they have a detrimental effect on the environment. Forthcoming European legislation will, require the amount of phosphate released into the environment to be minimised.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a detergent or bleaching agent for cleaning in laundries, or in domestic washing machines or dishwashers which is phosphate free.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a detergent composition comprising a granulated percarbonate and a blend which encapsulates the percarbonate, the blend comprising a sulphate, carboxymethyl cellulose and a nonionic surfactant, wherein the detergent composition comprises sodium metasilicate and does not include a zeolite, a perborate or a phosphate, and wherein the composition is capable of being stored in a water-soluble PVA film packaging for at least nine months and wherein the composition comprises between 1% and 15% percarbonate.
Preferably the detergent formulation uses sodium percarbonate, carboxy methyl cellulose, sodium sulphate, a nonionic surfactant blend, sodium silicate and a phosphate substitute, ie an alternative to the phosphates used in detergent formulations.
The phosphate substitute may be selected from the group comprising silicates, carbonates and polycarboxylates, which should be wholly or substantially anhydrous.
The invention specifically excludes polyphosphates and preferably includes polyacrylates in powdered or liquid form. In particular formulations the amount of emulsifier metasilicate is also increased and the amount of carboxymethyl cellulose is decreased and bleach activator is added when liquid polyacrylate is used.
Preferably the detergent further comprises bleach activator such as TAED.
The detergent may further comprise at least one ingredient chosen from the group comprising linear alkylbenzene sulphonate, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium carbonate, low foam wetting agent, perfumes, optical brighteners, salts, pigments and enzymes.
In one embodiment the detergent formulation is a laundering product.
In an alternative embodiment the detergent is a machine dishwashing product.
Suitably the laundry or dishwashing product according to the present invention is packaged in PVA film. A product of the invention is stable in PVA film compared to other products containing zeolites and perborates.
Suitably the film is 20-80 microns thick.
The product may be incorporated into a tablet form.
The granulated form of percarbonate in the above permits efficient bleaching action of the laundry product whilst not effecting the stability of the product in storage.